The Tomato Cage Gardening Trick That'll Make Zinnias Stand Taller

There's more than one way that you can use tomato cages in your garden other than just using them to support your gorgeous home-grown tomatoes as they get bigger. With a few simple adjustments, you can also use these handy support devices to help your zinnias stand taller and stop them from falling over. You can grow beautiful zinnias with lovely long stems that you can then cut and pop into vases to fill your home with brilliant color. In fact, this is just one of the many ways to repurpose tomato cages in your garden.

Some zinnia varieties can easily reach a height of up to 4 feet, so they'll need some support to help them stand tall. Zinnias come in a huge range of cultivars in floral colors of yellow, orange, pink, purple, red, and white. They can be grown in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 10 and will really make a colorful splash in your garden. The best time of year to plant zinnia seeds is late spring to summer. But staking each plant individually can be both tedious and look quite unsightly. The better solution is to give them group support by using a clever tomato cage gardening trick or two.

One way to use tomato cages to support zinnias is to get round or triangular cages that are around 4 feet high. Then, you can cut each cage in half with wire cutters, which gives you two cages that are 2 feet high. You can either place the cages over the beds where you've sown the seeds or put them around groups of zinnias that have already started to grow. As the plants continue to bloom and blossom and reach greater heights, they'll cover the cages, which will no longer be visible.

Alternatively, you can try this trick instead. Using a 4-foot-tall tomato cage, lay it on its side over the soil where you've just planted some zinnia seeds. Use a couple of pegs to secure the cage to the ground. As the plants grow, they'll weave their way through the cage and this won't be visible once your gorgeous zinnias start to flower. Wire tomato cages are sturdy and can be used for several years to support taller growing flowers such as zinnias from one season to the next. If you already have a strong patch of zinnias growing, consider cutting the tomato cages in half lengthwise into two half-circle supports. Place them around your clumps of zinnias to stop them from falling over. And to repurpose your tomato cages even further, you could even turn an old tomato cage into a stunning bird bath.